1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to imaging. In particular, the invention relates to three-dimensional video processing.
2. Description of Related Art
Video communication has become important in modern computing platform. A typical video communication system involves motion estimation and image compression. Techniques for image compression of moving images are available such as Moving Picture Expert Groups (MPEG) standards.
Typical video communication involves three-dimensional (3-D) scenes. Examples include video conferencing, news transmission, sports events. In these examples, video images include people talking, players running in the field in the foreground. However, it is only the foreground region that contains images of interest. The background images are not useful and can be discarded such as the audience in a football game, the furniture and decorating items in a conference room.
It is desirable to be able to segment the foreground region and the background region in the images so that the video images can be transmitted efficiently. However, traditional imaging systems use only two-dimensional (2-D) images which cannot provide 3-D information to separate the foreground from the background.
Therefore there is a need in the technology to provide a simple and efficient method for three-dimensional (3-D) segmentation.